Useless Promises
by NeoMiniTails
Summary: Haruka makes a promise to Damian Wayne that she can't keep. Side-story to "Everyone Wears A Mask."


**Author's Note:**

_Please review and favorite if you like the story. This is a side-story of Everyone Wears A Mask. The ending ended up being more dramatic than I originally had planned. If people would like, I can also make a separate chapter with the alternative, more comical ending of what I had happened._

* * *

Brooding in the corner, Damian sat with his arms crossed, his eyes focused on the marble floor then at Haruka then at the marble floor again. Gawd, why did he have to let them push him into this? Seriously, how was he going to pay them when they realize that they won the bet? With a scowl on his face, the young boy punched a crack into the ground.

The blonde-haired crossdresser frowned, her lips contorted somewhere between a smirk and a frown, both as genuine as the interest in his story. "Hey Big Head, are you gonna get your dad to pay for that?" She asked, turning her chair away from the young teenage boy, pretending to read the newspaper in her pin-striped suit.

"He ain't even supposed to know I'm ova here."

Haruka chuckled. That was true. Heck, Michiru didn't even want him there but seriously, who else was going to play video games with her if he wasn't there? At one time, she could use Minako for those kind of activities but she worked overnight and slept during the day and then whined whenever she lost.

"Well," Haruka tapped her fingernails on the counter, "how're you gonna pay for that?" She knew the answer but wanted his answer. While he wasn't her son, never would be, she was never one to allow a child to get off without her at least getting them to understand how their irresponsibility affects others. Besides, she had to keep up her sarcasm and ability to mentally bother people.

"Shut up," the young teen muttered darkly. "I'll figure it out."

Haruka turned immediately, her sky blue eyes darkening like a storm cloud. "Hey Big Head, what the hell is wrong with you?"

Damian turned away, his face red and hands in his hair, a vein bulging on the side of his head. His full lips were trembling and his eyes looked moist despite the cold facade he had thrown on. The blonde-haired woman's eyes softened as she looked down, unsure how to handle this kind of situation with a young boy.

Her daughter, Hotaru, was complicated enough, but he wasn't her; she had to remind herself that everyday. No matter how much he reminded her of her little "firefly," they were two separate individuals. "Hey, don't get snappy with me, Big Head."

Haruka walked over to him, kneeled down to his height, a slight smile on her lips. "Chum up; you're gonna make Uncle Haru-kun cry... you don't want that, do you?"

Damian made a 'Tt' sound and evidently, that was his way of saying that he couldn't care less. "You're not my damn uncle, Haruka."

Sighing, the blonde-warrior of wind sat beside him, touched her hand on his knees and chuckled. "No, I'm not. What's wrong, Damian?"

* * *

The teenage boy looked up. It was strange for Haruka to ever use his real name. He was sure sometimes that Haruka didn't know his real name. "His" eyes looked soft and gentle, a look that he had always wanted his mother to have sometimes. It made Haruka's tough guy image look soft and gentle like a motherly woman rather than the awesome racecar driver that he looked up to.

Haruka's hand clenched his knee, and for whatever reason, he didn't pull back. Damian, oddly, trusted "him," the same way that he felt around his brothers. Strangely, it felt like the racecar driver understood him, understood the loneliness, the anger, the need to battle, and the want of happiness that wasn't provided for him in this hell of a life.

Still, talking to Haruka about his problem, it felt wrong. He was sure that the older "man" had probably always been popular, the person that could relate to anyone, had cool girlfriends around him all the time. Damian wasn't that way. He could barely relate to anyone in class; unless they talked about death, making plans, and abandonment, things that he didn't like talking about aloud, he couldn't bear being around them.

They were idiots. Every single of them. Why did he bother trying to fit in if it always hurt in the end? Why couldn't his father put him in homeschool so that he wouldn't have to worry about others?

"Damian, talk to me, what's wrong?"

He looked away and up - eyeing the clouds through the window, a frown on his lips. "I made a dumb bet."

He didn't turn around but he could feel Haruka smirking from behind him. Damian wanted to punch it off his face; damn Haruka, finding this amusing.

"What was the bet?" Surprisingly, Haruka didn't sound like he was judging the young man.

Damian put his head down. "Doesn't matter. I need to find ten thousand dollars to pay the stupid creeps." Losing sucks.

Haruka sighed dramatically. "That's a pretty big bet for a bunch of stupid kids without jobs."

Damian turned back, his eyes hard as stone. "I'm not a kid, dumbass!"

"You're the one that made a bet that you can't win, and I'm the dumbass, Big Head?!"

Damian snorted. "Yeah. Whateva... Maybe, I'll sell some crack cocaine or meth to get the money." He chuckled.

Haruka obviously didn't find that funny. "You didn't sign anything, did you?"

"Yea, I did. This smart kid made me... he said that I was probably too scared to sign it."

"Oh?" Haruka looked up at the fan, seemingly watching the blades turn. "Then you're legally jacked.. probably gonna get some bad credit, too."

"Wh-What?!" Damian's mouth opened wide. What was he talking about? Could they somehow ruin his credit before he could even lose his virginity?

"You'll be fine, though." Haruka sat up, dusting "his" pants off.

Damian scowled. What did he know? He hadn't even offered advice to how to deal with it.

"You have a rich daddy, Big Head."

"Yeah so what?!"

"If you can't tell me the best, Big Head, I can't help you out." The blonde racecar driver grabbed a toothpick and dug into his teeth.

Damian sat with his arms crossed. Why did he think that Haruka actually cared? Those eyes were nothing more than a facade. "I told them that I have an older girlfriend, and she's a model."

"Oh?"

The teenage boy didn't respond, just pulled his legs to his chest and sat down with his face in his knees. This was so pointless.

He could hear the sound of cereal being poured into a glass bowl. The blonde tomboy either woke up and was getting breakfast before leaving to the bar that his brother owned or Haruka was carelessly eating despite his stress. Alfred would never do that.

"You'll be fine." Haruka repeated after taking a smack on the cereal.

Damian frowned. Why couldn't "he" eat quieter? Gawd, couldn't he see that he didn't have time to be dealing with his smacking?

"I promise."

Silence. Why was Haruka promising things that he couldn't make come true? Still, for some reason, it comforted Damian. It comforted him that somebody cared enough to try to promise something to him - something beyond their power. His mother never did that. Strangely, he found himself more stressed out thinking about what his mother would think if she knew that he was foolish enough to get himself in this kind of mess and the more he thought of the shame that she would feel, the worse the pain in his chest felt.

"Damian, did you make them all sign the same paper?"

Not looking up, he nodded in agreement.

If he had only looked up, he would have seen the biggest smile on Haruka's face.

* * *

The day went on as Damian would've expected after being around the house for so long. Once Ami got home, she went on for about twenty minutes about how getting homework was important for his growth as a young boy then jumped at the chance to help him despite his not really needing it besides a few math and for creative writing.

She always seemed so happy to help. After, she would always begin tutoring him on Japanese though that was more for fun for the both of them. He was secretly into watching anime - something that he did when his dad wasn't home - and wanted to be able to watch it without subtitles but while he picked up on words, he was lost on phrases and dialect. Damian wasn't going to be able to watch anime without subtitles anytime soon.

Still, it was fun to be able to join in and listen to the girls speak in their native tongue when they were speaking slow. He couldn't pick up everything, probably less than one-tenth of one percent of what they said, but even so, it felt cool.

Later, as usual, to Haruka's amusement, when Minako finally came out her room, she and Damian argued uselessly about something stupid. The boy would call Minako fat and the athletic leader of the Inner Sailor Warriors would throw some fine china at him which he would dodge then later, despite all of Haruka's efforts to keep his visit a secret, she would have to explain the china being broken had nothing to do with the teenage boy being there despite Michiru's protest.

The excuse was often, according to Haruka and Ami, that Minako didn't understand the worth of such things. Sadly, their story wasn't all completely wrong. In fact, it seemed that the Venusian warrior always looked for the most expensive item in the house but never the cheap things that could easily be replaced.

More than once, she put down the things that she could afford and knew the price of, saying that it was too expensive to break. No matter how many times she'd been reprimanded, she just didn't get it.

Then, after all the arguing, Minako would look at the time - an hour after her shift had already started - then tell Damian that she would drop him off then hurry to work.

It was obvious to everyone that they all loved him.

There was one notable difference though to both Haruka and the teenage boy.

Damian turned to see Ami let out a heavy sigh. "Can't be helped then. Damian-kun, you should come over tomorrow for more tutoring."

"Tomorrow's Friday though." Damian shot back, confused, his tone sounded like he was trying to be be his typical dark and brooding self but sounding more like a young and confused boy.

Michiru walked through the door, holding her mirror artifact in her hand, her eyes staring at him with a gentleness he'd never seen before. "Yes, you should come tomorrow."

Haruka's eyes narrowed. Why did Ami and Michiru both say that he should come over tomorrow? She looked at the Neptune mirror and frowned. For her to be holding that item, the mirror that showed the truth of the future and past, anything that she wished to see and say that to Damian.

Minako looked at her cellphone and frowned. "Hey Idiot Boy," she purred, "I'll pick you up for tutoring then." The look in her eyes looked so serious - more like a sailor senshi than just a friendly working girl taking time out of her day to help him out.

Haruka rested her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "You'll be fine..."

Damian made a "Tt" sound and scowled. "What the hell's wrong with you guys?" He was about to walk out but stopped upon feeling like someone was watching him. Turning around, he saw a dark-haired woman with violet eyes who turned his blood cold. She had what martial artist called a "killing intent" aura that made him stammer. "Miss Rei, you aren't doing anything with Dick today?"

Rei's eyes turned cruel and cold at his words. It matched the aura that he felt from her. "No, not today." There was silence. He felt his skin crawl standing under her aura and for some reason, he felt better in the company of the Joker than her. "Something had been bothering me all day..." Well, that explained the anger and coldness that he felt from her.

The psychic girl smiled cruelly. "Wayne-san," she said softly. "Be safe."

Damian's eyes widened and his skin turned whiter than a ghost. Dick had told him that she apparently was an esper. Could it be possible that he was the cause of what had been bothering her all day? He tried to smile or even try to say something snarky but one wrong move, he was sure he would piss on himself. The four girls nodded and Haruka's eyes hardened.

"It can't be helped," he heard Haruka say.

* * *

Damian hadn't gotten much sleep after the night of the day before. It was bad enough that he had a bet that he didn't want to deal with but now, he was stressing about the warning from the strange and yet beautiful Rei had given him. He felt like he had been hexed.

He found himself being overly cautious with everyone and everything. In fact, it was to the point that when he had seen a black cat, despite not being superstitious (believing he was better than superstitious people), he avoided it and ran off. He wanted to hug it after running away because he was sure that he had hurt its feelings.

Besides, no animal ever done him wrong. Poor little lonely black cat.

To make matters worse, when his eraser on his pencil broke, a girl beside him had decided to hand him an eraser, he grabbed her wrist and twisted it in fear that she had a hidden dagger and was trying to do something that he could stop.

Well, that didn't go so well. Not well at all. Especially since he punched the girl in the face before she could say anything.

He'd seen that she was holding just an eraser but rather than just trusting that, he ran out the room and grabbed a microscope then ripped it apart to make sure of the actual material inside.

The good thing about it all? Not much besides the fact that he learned how it felt to be a ninja, living in the shadows. Well, that was more of an assumption. He had to assume that his precautions were a safety measure that would make both his father and Rei happy. Well, the only good thing was that he was quick and for every person that had been attacked, no one had proof that he did anything.

No blood on his hands, no camera that were quick enough to catch his movement, and no fighters in class who could use their eyes to truly get him in trouble. The teacher tried to ensure his expulsion, but when they looked at the cameras, his hands, and even after his clothing, they could find nothing to prove jack so they had to let it go.

His mother would be very proud of him. This was surely good training for becoming an assassin.

* * *

He sighed, thinking of Haruka. "He" wouldn't be happy though. He'd probably be disgusted by his actions. Looking at the time, he frowned. It was almost time for the final bell to ring which would mean that everyone would know that he'd been lying about the having an "adult, model girlfriend." He could almost bet that his dad and Dick didn't have this problem when they were his age.

"Remember to have your parents sign the field trip form and have the $50 on my desk by Tuesday," the teacher was finishing his lecture when the bell finally rang. "Alright, I'll see you on Monday. You're dismissed."

Damian didn't think he heard anything besides the last part about money and that was only because he was going to somehow have to tell his dad that he needed to be lended some money. What kind of thirteen year old got into these kind of situations anyways? Maybe, it came with the curse of being the Robin? One can wish.

Getting up from his seat, he turned right and saw a girl smiling at him. She was really nice, the sort of person that he imagined that had lots of friends - one of those people that he could never befriend even if he tried. She had these eyes that reminded him of Haruka, always playful yet serious, and had a smile that almost mirrored Ami's.

He had heard that she was athletic which was pretty cool, Damian admitted. Barbara and Minako were also like that... well, at least, he heard that Barbara had been pretty athletic from Dick. Being in a wheelchair, she was sorta bound to the ground... though she had some really awesome computer skills. That was something that Minako lacked. Yeah, her computer skills were about as bad as one could get; she had somehow blown up a computer (literally!) while trying to log in on Haruka's account/

Damian wondered if that young girl was like Barbara or Minako when it came to computers. Er, maybe she was like Rei and had extra sensory powers. Yeahhh, no... he highly doubted (and hoped against) that.

"Hey Damian," the girl walked over to him, a bright smile on her lips. The young man awkwardly froze up and eyes became sorely unreadable. He went into mission mode, a bad tendency that happened a lot around people that he didn't know. There was always a fear, even without Rei's warning, that people were against him. There was always that moment when he would wonder if there were others like him who were better masked as assassins.

Nice people scared him. He desired more nice people, but they scared him and part of him was frightened by Haruka because of that. It was wrong, he knew, but he was taught that everyone had a background agenda that he didn't know about. Nice people were just ones who were better at hiding themselves from the word.

"I heard that your girlfriend is coming to the school today." The girl giggled. She had this shine about her that was almost angelic that made him uncomfortable.

Looking away, he answered, "Yeah.. is that the rumor?" Why didn't he just tell the truth? Haruka said it would be alright and part of him believed in those words. The other part of Damian knew that saying things would be okay when there's no proof was pointless words.

"Is she really a model?"

"Uh, yeah.." He twiddled his thumb, watching the teacher clean up his desk and the other students hurrying out the class.

The girl looked away. "So.. I guess, you're just like your dad, huh?"

Damian didn't answer. What was she talking about? He didn't even mention his father.

"I mean, the high standards..."

Yeah right, has she met Selina Kyle? He made a "Tt" sound with his mouth, a nervous reaction to all this talking. "Yeah, I guess so..."

He looked and saw one girl patting the talking girl on the back, whispering something about it being "okay." Damian wanted to say that it was cool talking to her, see ya later, or even "smell ya later" would've sufficed but he ended up just muttering something about dumb girls interrupting conversations and walked off and into the inner courtyard of the school.

* * *

Looking to the right, he could go the opposite way and pretend that he forgot that Haruka was going to pick him up and that he forgot about the bet. It wouldn't be that hard to believe. Damian was sure that he did a good job of not giving a damn enough for people to believe him. Looking to the right, he could see a crowd outside, all waiting for him.

Most weren't part of the bet but friends with the jerks that he gambled away his money with. He was sure that they would act all tough in front of one another, probably call him a liar, and he was sure that being called names would feel worse than the actual losing. Still, if they went too far, he'd make them beg for him not to rip their hearts out of their chest.

Time to face the music.

"Yo rich boy... where's that girlfriend?"

"Hahaha... you're late and she's still not here!"

"Just admit that she doesn't exist!"

Looking around, these weren't just middle schoolers, but there were some high school kids and adults in the crowd. In fact, he was sure that some of these people weren't even in school anymore. There were thugs intertwined with middle aged men who had no life, teens from up the hill.

What were they all doing here?

Jeering filled the air, scathing his mind and piercing his heart. "She aint coming!" He yelled back, not wanting to be made to look like a fool.

"Man, you coulda jus' paid for someone to come and act as a girlfriend!"

An ugly red-headed boy with skin the color of unfiltered milk laughed his head off. "Carrie, didn't you just talk to him about that girlfriend of his?"

Damian's eyes widened and saw the girl from his classroom laughing at him, her damn "nice girl" mask taken off and her foul face seen. He hated people like her.

"What's wrong, ugly.. you ain't got nothing to say, eh?" Damian heard someone say from the crowd.

"Where's our money, fag?" One boy said then the crowd joined in. The entire crowd began screaming his name, sneering.

What was this? A gang up on him? Were they planning on jumping him? Rocks started to be thrown in his direction, but Damian quickly dodged each one. His eyes focused on the crowd and who was doing the throwing but it was coming from all directions. A rock was thrown from his right so he quickly moved out the way then a second one flung past him, the aim was bad.

"Hey, I'll get ya your money... what're ya doing?" Damian spat out but then was hit in the back of his head with a rock, blacking out for a moment. He stumbled forward and touched the back of his head, blood seeping out. He clenched his fist as he turned and saw Carrie laughing, saying something to the red-headed boy but Damian was too dizzy to make out her lips.

More rocks were thrown at him, and he moved forward to attack the person in front of him, dodging three rocks but hit by four on the side then two more in the back.

What the hell?! He was getting beat up by a bunch of nobodies... a bunch of people who couldn't take him one on one. He fell to the ground, spitting out blood, his mind on his mother and how disappointed she would be in him. How would Bruce feel about him? Would he want to replace him as Robin if he couldn't handle this situation? Would he even be any use to his old man if he couldn't protect himself?

He looked up and saw another rock going straight towards his face then there was a bright light.

Damian threw his arms up, guarding himself, half blinded by the light and shaking on the ground.

There was a warm feeling that came over his entire body, a chill from the awakened fear of dying and a joy from knowing that he felt this kind of thing. Standing in front of him, there were two girls with short Japanese schoolgirl outfits standing before him.

"He needs protection from girls." One guy threw out then he saw the one with the red skirt jump forward and grab the man by his face and slam him into a tree.

"In the name of Mars, I will chastise you." Her voice sounded familiar. Was it? Could it be?

"All of this for a bet," he saw the one in the golden skirt walk over to him with her long blonde hair, golden eyes and the smile of a seductress. "For a bet that you've all lost." She grabbed him by his hand and hugged him to her chest tightly.

He turned around, shamefully and watched as he saw Ami come walking forward with her dexterous eyes eyeing the crowd. She held a folder and a camera in her hands. "This agreement is interesting." She walked over to Damian and held out the folder to Sailor Venus. "It has everyone's addresses and their names..."

Why wasn't she scared? What was Ami doing here? The blue-haired woman touched Damian's shoulder. "They will protect you. Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars."

No. This was wrong. No, this was all wrong.

He could hear a loud sound above him. For some reason, the sound was muffled or maybe that was him going in and out of consciousness.

_Big Head, you're okay,_ he swore he heard.

There was the sound of sirens and then silence.

* * *

"You sure had a crazy day, huh, Dami-kun?"

Damian woke and saw a beautiful blonde-haired woman looking down at him. His head was lying on her thighs. Haruka's twin sister? The girl from the photo, she was with him. Why?

"Y-You're?"

"Haruno..." the woman quickly said, almost too quick. "Haruka told me to come pick you up and tell everyone that I was your girlfriend, but when I got there, the police had come with Michiru-san and Sailor Mars and Venus were standing over you, protecting you."

Damian frowned. Why hadn't Haruka showed up if she knew he was in trouble? Ami and Michiru showed up and even the sailor warriors. "Where was Haruka?"

"Haruno" giggled. It sounded so unnatural from her. "She showed up in her helicopter then saw a man throw a rock and jumped out the copter and chased him down... dunno if she caught him though."

Damian pouted. Sounded like a lie.

Haruno looked down at him and sighed and gave him the same look that he was used to Haruka giving him. "Hey Big Head, I said that you would be okay, didn't I?"

Big Head? Damian looked around and expected to see another person come in the room but then was pushed off "Haruno's" legs. No, not Haruno's legs, no - that was clearly Haruka. Haruno wouldn't know about their conversation the day before. What was he doing dressing in a mini-skirt and looking like some hot chick.

What the hell?

"How stupid do you think that I am, huh, Haruka?"

Haruka stood up and didn't bother saying anything, taking off the six inch heels off of "his" feet. Damian watched angrily. What was he doing just ignoring him? And acting all nonchalant about it all!? Running forward, he tried to punch him but was dodged and thrown to the ground. Still, he got up again and tried to punch again and again, releasing all his anger out onto the blonde-haired racecar driver.

Why didn't he come for him? Why was he dressed like this? Did he just not get it?

He kept going, one after one, each punch being dodged. It was like he was aiming for air. Why did they all attack him? Why didn't Damian attack back? What was the point of wanting to be accepted by these people? How could Haruka promise him that everything would be okay and for it all to be a lie? He so badly wanted to trust him. That's all he wanted.

Why couldn't he hit him? Finally, the attack struck but before he could relish in the facial expression of Haruka, to see the anger and understand the kind of man he was in battle, he was thrown back into the wall.

Damian pushed himself off the wall then threw himself into Haruka, catching her in the stomach, but to his surprise, "he" didn't react. No expression.

Throwing another punch, he just wanted someone to hurt the way he did. He wanted his mother to be proud, he wanted to not feel anything. This time, though, the punch was caught and Haruka kneeled down to his level and hugged him close to her chest.

Damian froze.

He was being hugged by Haruka. He could feel her unbound chest against his own, her heart beating quickly and her tears spilling onto his cheeks. There was silence. Did he actually cause her pain? Seeing her cry, it didn't feel good. No, it felt horrible.

Haruka was supposed to be cool, to be strong, to not cry. This wasn't Haruka. No. This couldn't be her. He wanted so badly to cry to show her that he felt bad, to feel human, to prove that he was not just an angry engineered child.

"Sorry..." Haruka said between tears, "I lied to you."

Damian said nothing. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong for being sorry. He hugged her back, the hug that he had always been refused by his mother by the woman who shed the tears that he couldn't.

He wanted to say thank you but ended up just silent, relishing in her hug. He couldn't cry or smile for her to show that he wasn't just a troubled kid.


End file.
